Silvery Wings and Golden Strings
by juicy.honeydrop
Summary: "It's been 18 years since she's left, and I still miss her to this day. Though, there's this one memory that's been pulling on my heart strings lately. She used to be fascinated with birds and fairy tales, and I still remember how bright and kind her eyes were. Though, weird things keep happening to my crops and.. are those wings on a hedgehog? Oh dear." Sonadow AU, T. HIATUS
1. Prologue

**A/N: hELLO HELLO FANFICTION ITS BEEN A WHILE HASN'T IT? Jesus, I haven't wrote for like 4 months already! But enough about me, let's get down to the info on this fic alright alright**

 **[ skip from here if you don't want to hear me ramble ]**

 **This is my first ever Sonic fanfiction, and surprise surprise its an AU because I literally suck at trying to make situations in actual canon. Also because this idea has been on my mind for a while now, I haven't gotten around to writing it since I now have no computer anymore ( typing this from my dads computer with some files from my flashdrive ) so updates might take a while if anyone has interest in this story.**

 **There will be Sonadow in this fic, because I love Sonadow sO AYO Fuck you guy s.**

 **Just kidding, but yes Sonadow will be in this.**

 **I'll say this now, I like build up. That means there will be absolutely NO JUMPING TO ROMANCE AT THE FIRST CHANCE I GET OKAY. Shit like romance takes time, alright? I literally don't like it when people do that, it just kinda makes the fanfic boring instantly since theres literally no development on it and I LIKE DEVELOPMENT. I feel like it makes the story worthwhile.**

 **Second, I will try my best to keep evERYONE IN HERE IN CHARACTER. Again, first Sonic fic? I'm aware of how these characters act and all but it's a totally different thing just trying to BE like them.**

 **Third, im probably gonna continue this fic no matter what people say? just too many ideas for me to keep inside okay. whOOPS but hey if people like it then that just motivates me to update more often than I regularly do.**

 **Also, I'm really bad at naming these things sue me**

 **Anyways, on with the Prologue!**

* * *

 _'Fly away little bird_

 _Fly away to a better place  
Where you will soar through the sky  
In the wide open space  
Fly away to live out all your hopes and dreams  
Enter the real world  
Of wondrous things  
Through the dark clouds and over the rainbows  
Fly away to destinations unknown  
Fly away to discover yourself  
And embrace what you find  
Fly away to create  
An otherworldly kind  
A kind of yourself that you never knew  
Until you left house and flew  
Flew out with the air  
As your old life tears  
And reattaches itself  
To form a new being  
Fly away little bird  
Fly away '_

 _A young blonde hedgehog sped down the stairs, giggling sweetly as soft thuds erupted from the bottom of her shoes. A certain black hoglet around her age followed suit, his hand clung onto her own, his crimson eyes glimmered from the few lights left glowing down the hall. The girl had adopted a face full of excitement, a daring glint shone from her irises whilst the smaller boy seemed to have his face scrunched up in uncertainty. The girl came into a sudden halt and snuck a peek behind the wall she hid by, the boy right behind her, his grip becoming more tight by the second._

" _Maria, you know you're sick! Besides, what if the headmaster catches us?" the ebony boy whispered with a tint of fear latched onto his voice. Maria had glanced over to the boy, giving off a soft smile to him, complete with shimmering blue eyes that the boy swore he could see bubbles through._

" _We're just going to see the stars tonight. Don't worry, Shadow. If anything happens we'll run back to our rooms before they can bat an eyelash at us!"the girl, gently dragged him along as they stepped over to the door. She grabbed the knob and Shadow jumped a bit as he heard a small squeak come from the door as his friend opened it. It didn't make anymore noises after that and Shadow prayed that wasn't enough to wake everyone in the orphanage up. Maria smiled as she felt Shadow latch onto her more, she knew Shadow was a timid, jumpy little boy ever since they had met each other, that why she felt the need to always keep him by her side to reassure him that everything will be fine. Not that he'd stray away from her so easily, that is. He was always by her side no matter what. They were like two peas in a pod, in a nutshell-like way to put it. Every time he was left alone, he'd ask everyone where she was ( but not without some slight hesitation ) and when he couldn't find her he cried until she did come back to him. He was adorable and Maria loved him as a brother. She turned to face him, her smile still drawn onto her._

" _Let's go."_

 _Hand in hand, they ran onto the long grassy fields and up onto the hill they went up to when it was day time and the headmasters allowed them to play around on warm, sunny Tuesdays. Shadow seemed to have let go of their worry as they finally set foot on the base of the hill and chased Maria around. The girl squealed and giggled as Shadow tried to catch her. Right when she was near the top, Shadow suddenly launched himself towards her, earning another squeal from the both of them and casually rolled down to the edge of the hill before stopping completely, setting off laughter that seemed to echo to the cosmos. They laid together, side by side as they were in the bliss of the stars, staring up into the tiny but shiny specs scattered throughout the faded night sky. A small breeze had passed by and caused the grass to tickle them, and had carried dandelion seeds along with it._

 _Maria heaved in a sigh, her eyes starry just like the sky. "Isn't it wonderful, Shadow?" She began, her voice soft and genuine. "So many beautiful things around us, so many possibilities and different things we get to experience." She paused for a moment, then turned her head towards Shadow. "Don't you.. ever wonder what it'd be like to fly?"_

" _Huh?" Shadow's ear twitched and he titled his head against the grass, not daring to rip his eyes off the sky._

" _Flying, Shadow. Have you ever just thought about soaring through the sky?" She spoke again, her smile seemed permanent._

 _Shadow heard this before, and it made him flinch slightly.".. You're going to.. be up there soon. You're going to be flying up there, aren't you?"_

 _Maria glanced toward her adopted baby brother, then continued looking back up into the sky. "Yes."_

" _.. Are you scared?"_

" _Are you?"_

" _Yes.. because then I'll be all alone again."_

 _Maria smiled softly, "Oh Shadow.." She turned to her side and gave him a hug, in which Shadow just held onto. A tiny sniffle was heard from the black hoglet and he looked up at her again with glossy eyes._

" _I don't want to be alone."_

" _No one does." Maria caressed his head and brushed chopped pieces of grass off of his flattened ears, she spoke again. "-but you'll never truly be alone.."_

 _Shadow whimpered and Maria just felt the need to hold him some more, continuing her actions and having an idea pop into her head. She pulled Shadow away just a tiny bit and looked him into his blood-red eyes._

" _It's time for your bedtime story."_

" _But- we're not even in bed."_

" _We'll have to be asleep by the time we get back in bed, so we won't have time for it there, so I can tell you it here." Maria cleared her throat before going on. "You know how I always read the fairy tales to you when you're in bed?"_

" _I love the fairy tales." Shadow mumbled into her shoulder. "They're more.. magical." Shadow emphasized the word 'magical' and rose their head just in time to eye his sister, his eyes were big and sparkling with awe and innocence. Maria bite her lip to keep herself from cooing at him and let out a light giggle instead._

" _Well, this one is a myth. I've been reading about it ever since father still alive and I found it so fascinating. I wanted to wait for the right time to tell you about it, and it seems like it could be the right time. But first, lets go on the hammock." Maria stood up and helped Shadow off the ground, instantly plopping down onto the hammock between the two trees holding it up. They were being shaded from the moon's luminescence, but still had a good view of the sky, so it was fine. Shadow curled up to Maria, his face still buried in her shoulder and his eyes locked up to her. Maria had prepared herself before and began her story._

" _You know how I said 'I wonder what it'd be like to fly'? Well, some people can already fly, and with wings." Shadow's eyes seemed to twinkle some more, if that was even possible considering Maria thought he had maxed out on making his eyes seem starry, looks like she was wrong._

" _They're called the Feathered, as in Feathered or Winged Mobians. Some Mobians already have wings because of their species, but the Feathered takes the species that don't have them and place celestial dove-like wings on their backs. They're represented as angels, and are high and mighty. They can talk with birds and have a connection with doves. They're also said to have control of the weather patterns, which makes them beneficial to us commoners though they can steal our crops when we're not looking." She giggled at the thought._

" _Once upon a time, a man had seen their corn have been stolen or ruined. They suspected it was a crow, so they set a scarecrow nearby and waited to see if anything would happen. The next day, their cabbage was stolen and the scare crow was tipped over. The man had removed the scarecrow and set a bear trap thinking it was a rodent or some type of pest. The day after that, his watermelons were stolen and the man got fed up. They decided to set up another trap and wait to see what was coming, he fell asleep while watching and when he woke up, he couldn't believe his eyes. Before him was a Feathered Mobian, caught in his net trap. The man thought he could sell the Feathered Mobian and become rich, but the Feathered Mobian had spoken and said if he were to do anything with them then bad luck would be spread upon them. The man didn't listen and continued on with his day, leaving the Feathered inside the net. The Feathered had called out to their bird companions and told them to trick the man into thinking he had bad luck from capturing them. The birds had bursted into his house through the window and twirled around in his house, breaking everything they could until the man shut them all out. Then when the man went out, the birds kept pecking at him and even pooped on him, they followed him everywhere he went and the man couldn't stand it. They suddenly remembered the Feathered one's warning and raced down to their home to release the angelic creature, it was then that the Feathered one took away the birds and flew off into the sky, never to be seen again."_

 _Shadow blinked, his mouth created a perfect 0 as he let out the longest 'wooooow..' Maria had ever heard come out of his mouth. He blinked once more before speaking again. "..Wait, will you become a Feathered soon?"_

 _Maria chuckled softly, "No, Shadow.. The Feathered are people, just like us, except they can talk to birds and have extraordinary wings. They can be born into it just like I was born into being a commoner."_

" _..That's amazing, Maria. But, if they're just like us, then why are they treated so differently?"_

 _Maria stayed silent for a second, probably thinking about what to say. Maria gave a small smile, not happy, but not sad either. Shadow couldn't tell, but their eyes seemed slightly dull as they responded: "Some people just wouldn't know how to feel about it. Seeing something different, something like a hedgehog with wings, it seems so out-of-place to them. Not normal. It may be scary." Maria laid her head on Shadow's, her expression dazed. "Though, I know that they have feelings. Just like me and you."_

" _.How do you know?"_

" _Because you're just like them: different. But, just because you're diffenret, doesn't mean you're not capable of feeling too."_

 _Shadow nodded silently. Maria was right, he was different. More different than people would like to think. He raised his hand and clutched his chest, feeling the harder mass of his own body. 'I have feelings, too.'_

* * *

 **A/N: Eh, I don't really like how I ended this. Oh well.**


	2. A Small Journal and a Vision

..It's been 18 years since she lost the battle to leukemia, just like Gerald. Shadow didn't know why he still bothered thinking about it.. okay yeah, so he did know, what's it to ya? Maria was the only person he was accustomed to, who he felt he could trust, in a better way of putting it. Shadow remembered always listening to her and her nightly fairy tales she used to tell him while he was a small hoglet still dressed up in overalls and dragging his stuffed bunny everywhere he went as well as following Maria everywhere _she_ went.

Shadow was beginning to think he had a problem when he was smaller.

Shadow grunted and gulped down some ice cold water which had only temporarily snapped him out of his thoughts. The familiar noises of chattering that had faded long before were coming back from behind him and the cool sensation had came down this throat so suddenly that he almost mistook it for a burn at first, this was good for him as it was a summer night in July, about 30 or so degrees higher than usual in his town. He felt that cool water might've had the same effects that booze did, minus the embarrassment and aching head in the morning, and more positive results that benefited his body.

Okay so maybe it wasn't like booze at all, but the sensation was sure damn close. At least he thought it was, he was told it was supposed to burn, how should he know? He didn't actually drink or want to try it. Maria said it was bad for him years before so he assumed she was right as always. He was getting way off topic here, he shook his head and tried to focus back onto what he was thinking about before. He stared down onto his half empty glass of water, thinking.

Why was this memory just seemingly haunting him in every waking moment? He hadn't thought about that one night in such a long time, why is it coming up now. Sure, he always had Maria in his head somewhere, hiding. But this so suddenly, something that happened right before her death? He sighed, chugging down his drink completely, preparing himself to completely get sucked into his own thoughts once more.

Maria had always been interested in fairy tales, hell it's the reason why _he_ liked them as a kid. He knew all of that, but what he was questioning was why so suddenly had the thought come up. He was tempted to bang his head against the counter, he was stuck on this. A piece of that memory was repeating itself in his mind in a faint whisper.

" _They're called the Feathered"_

 _'..The Feathered..'_

 _The Feathered Mobians?_

Shadow's ear twitched, now that he thought about it. He remembered that Maria had a fascination with flying high, with wings and birds and.. The Feathered Mobians? She had said she was studying them for as long as she could remember, probably since she was still with living with Gerald and him. Shadow would admit that he had a phase of fascination with them but soon had forgotten after all the loneliness he had to bear without his sister by his side. Shadow had turned cold and distant since then, he's matured to a point where if his eyes pierced through the souls of others they would instantly turn heel and run as fast as their legs could handle. Times were tough throughout the years and it just hardened him up some more since Maria wasn't there to help him with anything at all anymore.

Shadow was used to the thought that only one person would truly know the real side of him.

"The Feathered Mobians..", he muttered to himself.

"The what?"

Shadow's ear shifted upwards towards the mature, familiar voice, before he raised his head up and looked up to see the barista ( or rather, owner of the club ) and one of the only few people he talked to nowadays, Rouge the Bat.

Shadow grunted, sliding his empty glass towards Rouge and resting his head onto the palm of his hand. "Might I have the pleasure of knowing when you decided it'd be best to come over and eavesdrop on me?"

The bat smirked, taking the glass and pouring some more water into it. "You looked lonely over here, handsome. Thought I had to check up on you for a bit, seems I was right by the way you just talked to yourself." She winked in her usual flirtatious attire.

Shadow snorted, taking back the glass Rouge gave back to him and taking a huge gulp. The bat had sat down across from him on a chair nearby, resting her head onto the back of her hands as she looked at him with a glint of curiosity in her turquoise orbs. "So tell me, what were you thinking about over here? You looked a million miles away."

Shadow raised an eye ridge at her as he set down his glass, his tone suddenly bored, "You're not one to usually care what other people are thinking unless is for your own benefit." He adjusted his velvet vest and tried to slim down his chest fur that was sticking out, but with no avail. The bat pouted her lips, mocking a sad face at the black hedgehog and pretending to sound hurt.

"Oh, Shadow. How _could_ you think someone like me isn't capable of feeling towards others?" She battled her eyes for special effect, but Shadow just rolled his eyes. Classic.

Once Rouge was done, she put on a more genuine smile, one that she oh so very rarely showed to people. "You know Shadow, despite me not being as close to you as your sister was. I can be just as caring if I wanted to, unless on another level you _want_ to be taken care of." She purred, scratching the bottom of Shadow's chin until he pulled her hand away. "Also, don't stuff in your chest fur, ladies love the chest fur."

Shadow had rolled his eyes yet again. "I'll let you know that my chest fur is annoying when it's sticking out like this-" The chest fur tickled the bottom of his chin, he rather not have that irritating feeling everywhere he goes."- and that I'm completely fine." He attempted to shoo her away so he could continue his train of thought but the bat was determined to get him to spill the beans.

"You always say you're fine and then you go and space out in the corner section of my club." Rouge had stood up but this point with her hands on her hips, her brow still raised and her attitude glowing. "At least I know it'd be about your sister, but that's all I would know-" She slammed her hands down on the counter, making Shadow's glass jump and Shadow threw a semi-glare at her."-Talk to me, boy."

Shadow snorted, he knew how Rouge could get when she wanted information about something, even something as trivial as Shadow's thoughts. The girl would literally stop at nothing to keep nagging him about this sort of stuff, at least if it was as bad as it was now for him. Shadow pinched the skin between his eyes and sighed. He decided a direct approach towards the situation would be best and would get the conversation to finish soon before it started.

"The Feathered Mobians."

Rouge blinked, "The _Feathered Mobians?_ ", he was starting to regret saying it out loud and having Rouge say it even louder enough to turn a couple heads around.

He buried the rest of his face deep into his palm. Dammit Rouge, the now growing embarrassment could've been avoided if you just kept your fucking mouth shut.

" _Yes,_ you heard me right. _Feathered Mobians, indeed._ ", he growled lowly, a faint warmth had fled up into his cheeks. "Have a problem with that?"

Rouge simply shook her head, "No, no. But isn't that just a legend of some sort?" The ivory girl cocked a brow at ebony boy. "Like a _kid's_ fairy tale?"

Shadow just nodded, "Maria told me about it before her.." Rouge noticed the pause and reached her arm out to give the poor hedgehog a pat on the shoulder.

"You don't have to say it, sugar." Rouge had sat down on her seat once again, legs crossed and arms now laid against the table, full attention focused on Shadow. "Though, I have to say.. even if Maria told you about it, what's the significance about it now?"

Shadow had taken another sip from his water, his tone uncertain"That's what I'm trying to figure out." Shadow looked up to Rouge again. "I have my suspicions, though all of them are just dead ends."

"Hmm," Rouge had raised a finger to her chin, posing a thinking expression of course. "Maybe, just maybe.. it's Maria's way of communicating to you?" She tried not to smirk, but Shadow instantly knew she was joking.

"That's.. literally impossible, Rouge."

She raised her hands up in defense, "Hey, hey. I'm just an insanely attractive bat lady throwing ideas out there." Her bat wings fluttered behind her. "Though, maybe you should read up on them.." She had noticed Shadow gave her the most bored look ever, eyelids half closed and everything. "I'm just saying, honey. I know you loved Maria, think of this as a way of remembering her. You'd both share the same amount of knowledge on these fairy tale sort of things, it'd be like keeping her spirits alive. Or something.. Hey Shadow, don't look at me like that, you said it yourself that I wasn't good at this sort of thing."

Shadow had considered it, he'll admit that he did the fact of rediscovering something that Maria had once loved, plus the _'keeping her spirits alive'_ things Rouge had just said was a bonus of some sort to him. Though he didn't actually believe in stuff like that, the thought seemed comforting at the very least. Shadow simply nodded at the Bat who was taking a sip of her drink. "Right," He had paused for a slight moment. " ..thank you, Rouge."

Rouge suddenly had a spark in her eyes, her wings had fluttered rapidly behind her and she gave the biggest mock happy face he'd ever seen. "Shadow. The Hedeghog. Thanking me?! Oh lord, is this real life right now?" She dropped the act in a second and snickered to herself.

Shadow was basically the king of eye rolling at this point.

Suddenly, a glass was heard breaking from the other side of the club as well as a scream from one of the drunken bozos. Shadow thought he heard something around the lines of "FROGGY WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME", okay. That was sudden.. and random. One of the bodyguards, a red echidna, Knuckles if Shadow could recall Rouge once calling him that, was trying to escort the big fat cat out the club door but appeared to be having trouble as the cat wouldn't let go of the door frame.

Rouge had face palmed, "This is the third time this week.." She muttered before turning to her fellow companion. "Duty calls. Sorry, but we'll talk more later, hun." She winked before flying over to the struggling duo. "Hey, don't worry Knucklehead! Mama Rouge is coming to the rescue!"

Shadow blinked, trying to process what had just happened but his mind had failed him. He shook his head, and had drank the remaining drops of water left in his cup before setting it down and walking out of his acquaintance's club. His house was far from the village, just how he liked it. He couldn't even stand the constant noise in Club Rouge, much less the whole damn place surrounding it. Places filled with crime and danger along with the disgusting scents of rotten perfume and dead fish were a big no-no to the young male. He could take on quite a few battles but would much rather like to not cause trouble unless he certainly had to. It was a long walk from Club Rouge, to the edge of the village and straight towards his own home. That time spent was not wasted though, as his mind seemed to drift off into the subject he had been discussing with Rouge earlier.

He _did_ indeed keep Maria old books and other belongings up in the attic, he wasn't sure if they'd be the ones Maria had used to study the creatures. Really, he just kept whatever was given to him by the headmasters since they believed in something.. Eh, Shadow forgot what it was. He was obedient towards them but never quite understood what they said since they had used more advanced vocabulary whilst Shadow was still just learning how to spell 'hedgehog' at age 5. He didn't want to get his hopes up for the books left over though, they were probably tattered and beaten up from all the constant shuffling and moving around they had to suffer from all throughout these last 18 years without their original owner keeping them company.

Shadow got to his home sooner than expected and immediately went up to his attic to search for the old things. He came across several boxes and had thought that Maria's belongings were kept in a box much smaller than these. As if it were magic, it suddenly came into his view. It was in the corner of the room, he stepped over and had bent over to grab it. _Maria_ it had written sloppily on the other side of the box, Shadow snorted as he remember just how bad he wrote out words when he was smaller. The box under the support of his arm, he climbed down from the attic on into his bedroom. Opening the box, he saw a few of Maria's old but slightly stained stuffed animals in there and grabbed one that seemed to have resemble her. It smelled of blueberries and apple juice, he carefully set it on top of his pillow before continuing on with looking for the books.

All of them seemed tattered like expected, and not what he was looking for. ( _The Hungry Caterpillar, really?_ ) He seemed about ready to give up until he flipped open another useless child book and saw a small journal tucked in between the pages. Shadow had assumed Maria had used it as a type of bookmark, but had something written onto the cover.

 _The Feathered Mobians.._

..So she had went so far as to document them? Huh, interesting.

While not exactly what he had expected, it was a start. Despite the journal being in absolutely perfect condition, Shadow cautiously flipped open the journal and read the first page.

' _01/10/1856 – Feathered Mobians_

 _First Entry_

 _Feathered Mobians were shown in ancient times to have been worshiped by our ancestors for their control over weather patterns and angelic excellency. It has been said that Commoners and Feathered Mobians have once been kept in harmony before a disturbance was made. The Feathered were forced to flee into the clouds in the sky, never to be seen again.-'_

..She started documenting this right before Shadow was even created for her. Huh.

Shadow had flipped through the pages and had seen that only 3 more were produced until Maria just seemly forgot all about it when Shadow came into her life. She had only just seemed to think about it again suddenly right before her demise, he had shook his head and continued to read her cursive. Once finished, he closed the book and laid down onto his bed. The held the book to his chest and stared up at the ceiling in the darkness of the night, the only light that came in was the moonlight.

Shadow muttered to himself, "..Would it be stupid of me to think that I could finish this? For _her_?" Shadow didn't even know if those kinds of books _actually_ being informative about The Feathered would even be around at this time because literally all the books about them had to offer were piles of cringe-worthy, happy-go-lucky cliche children tales. No help from them whatsoever. Shadow knew he didn't necessarily need sleep, but Maria had made it into a habit for him to do so. He set the book aside and turned onto his side to face the window, staring into the stars dim light before closing his eyes and allowing himself to let go of reality.

* * *

He had a dream that night, he had of a mysterious Feathered Mobian reaching out towards him. Their warm smile almost immediately made his heart melt, the smile was all he could see, everything seemed so bright behind them that he couldn't even make out what they looked like. They faded away just as soon as he reached back out to them.

Back that wasn't important right now, as something seems to have stolen some of his crops.

* * *

 **A/N: oh shit itS COMING GUYS**

 **SLOWLY YET SUREL Y**

 **GET YOUR SONADOW FLAGS READY**

 **R &R !**


	3. Stranger

**A/N: my friend is such a bitch when they proofread my shit XD**

* * *

A blue blur was seen racing through the forest with a slightly worn paper bag trapped safely under his arm as birds of all shades of the rainbow were trailing behind him, berries in their claws and all. The bandit leaped for the trees, an arm extended out and gripped firmly to a branch, swinging him onto another tree then another, the process continued until they reached the highest tree branch and threw themselves towards a small clearing. A large, old dark house with many imperfections had stood out from the trees that surrounded it, vines were everywhere on it, and branches that poked in through the broken windows. The bandit had walked over with no problem, not even a trace of uneasiness was in the back of his mind or his face. He looked into one of the windows, his emerald eyes glistening as they jerked around looking for something, or rather _someone_. They had bolted to the front of the house, and knocked, calling out to someone behind the entrance..

"Hey, Tails! Open the door! I scored big time with the help of my fellow _compadres_ if you know what I mean." He had pointed up to the colorful birds, giving off a bright smile as they chirped cheerfully behind him.

Clicking and snapping sounds were heard behind the door until it swung open completely, the bandit instantly being greeted by a younger two tailed fox and their beatific blue eyes. "Sonic!"

" _The one and only._ ", he slicked back his quills and winked at his young friend before they had stepped aside and allowed him to walk through, the birds still following close behind and swirling around the room. "Whoa! Guys, chill out!" The blue male had called out towards his followers, spreading his wings and tapping his shoes as a sign of dominance. "First, we eat. _Then,_ we party."

The golden kitsune laughed and sat down the table, one of the books he had been reading from before had been shut and was now neatly stacked over the others right beside him. Sonic had opened the window and asked the birds to stand guard outside before he walked over and dumped all the food from the bag he was holding, fruits and vegetables rolled across the glazed wooden surface. The hedgehog had pulled out a big, juicy looking red apple and rubbed it with a small soft handkerchief before taking a bite out of it, pulling his legs onto the table and crossing them over each other while an arm had been bent behind his head for added support against the chair, his expression chill as ever. The cub had already been munching on a banana and sipping on his apple juice he had saved since last month. Sonic had noticed the book stack placed right next to his 'little brother' and cocked a brow at it, he sat down and pointed at it with his eyes full of curiosity and his wings raised. "What's that?"

"A pile of books.", Tails had stated. Sonic had made a face that clearly spoke 'Seriously?' to the young boy, which made him snicker as he grabbed one of the books and opened it back up to where he had left off before continuing. "I was reading about engineering a steam powered jet. It's really cool actually!" Tails prepared to tell him all about it, on technical terms of course. "Just earlier I've been learning about the types of different engines I could use on them, like airbreathing, turbine powered, tubrojet, tubrofan, tubropop and turboshaft, and etcetera. Also the motorjet is an obsolete type that worked like a turbojet but instead of a turbine driving the compressor a piston engine drives it with advantages like a higher exhaust velocity than a propeller, offering better thrust at high speed but has disadvantages like being heavy, inefficient and underpowered-" Sonic raised a finger to his brother's mouth, a pained smile on his face.

"You lost me at cool." Tails just rolled his eyes at Sonic's invasive yet funny interruption. "Speak Sonic to me when you're trying to explain smart stuff like yours, okay bud?" He pat the cub's head and swiped another apple from the table, throwing it up into the air and catching it.

The kitsune had eyed him, taking another bite bite out of his banana before speaking up again, this time with a partially full mouth: "How do you always manage to get such high quality food like this now? Last time you told me that the city over the mountain had the worst tasting food possible and that was before you suddenly starting bringing this stuff in!" The blue boy had flinched slightly, and hesitated a bit before a sly grin spread onto his face as he swallowed the last of his apple, throwing the core and watching as it perfectly landed into the trash can by the end of the staircase, which he had silently applauded himself for. He distracted himself with that thought, and hoped Tails didn't notice the slight pause he gave out.

"I always have my ways, Tails my boy." He reached out over the table, getting his friend into a headlock and grinding his knuckles into his head playfully. The fox had laughed along with him and was confused when Sonic pulled himself away suddenly, he watched with curious eyes as he got some grapes from the table and avoided looking at him. He could feel the kid's gaze on him, an overwhelming guilt slapped itself right into his mind. He hated lying to Tails, but what would he think if he actually stole these from someone? He was used to stealing, it was in his species nature to steal since they technically lived on clouds and couldn't grow crops of their own up there. Tails had always insisted that they didn't do that and attempted to use their small amount of money their dead mother gave them to go and buy the food over the mountain to the nearest city. Sure enough, the city was pretty shitty and he almost got mugged in there. Luckily, Sonic always followed close behind him while he went out. The people who had tried to hurt him were confused when they couldn't see what was hitting them repeatedly and eventually were scared off. Sonic had convinced Tails never to go back there again and that he would get the food from now on. Looks like Tails trusted him a bit too much when it came to that. What could he do? He couldn't hide his wings, people would easily spot him. He could out run them with no problem, but Tails loved the library he lived in currently. If the commoners managed to find them, just think about what they could do to a myth and a mutated fox? He didn't ever want to find out.

To be honest, he _dreaded_ being a feathered. His didn't even use his wings unless it was to travel back up to the sky in the night where his mother would have his head if he wasn't there and didn't bother listening to her when she said going down here was no good. Home was absolutely awful, as long as they had their wings, they were binded to this area. With an adventurous soul like his, that was the worst you could do. He was practically a prisoner, their mother said it was for their species own safety but dammit, he couldn't stand constantly hiding from others. He had to keep up the act because he had no shield from others finding out what he really was, and Tails..

He had the urge to rub his head, Tails comes first. He always has been first in everything, kid doesn't have his mother and he was the only he had now. He was basically a big brother to him now, ever since that faithful day of Sonic looking down from the clouds and growing curious. He came across the scared, curled up fox boy who looked starved. He couldn't just ignore him, Sonic was 12 then and Tails was 4, 9 years have passed since then and he had made it a daily routine to always come by and see him. The two best friends have helped each other in many ways, and Tails was always confused by the fact that Sonic wanted to be a commoner. He still wanted to, anything to get rid of these binds to this land and only this one. He snapped himself out of his memory train as he felt the blue eyes of his friend staring at him again.

Sonic chuckled, "Hey, uh, Tails. Why are you looking at me like that, bud?" he tried to give off an innocent smile, but failed as it looked _far too innocent_ , even for him. The fox raised a brow.

"Tails?"

Tails crossed his arms, not taking his eyes off of him and the hedgehog sighed out in exasperation. "Okay.. okay! You caught me, I've been stealing from someone. There, ya happy?" He instantly blurted out in an almost irritated tone before munching onto his grapes and looking away from his friend, knowing Tails would lecture him about how it was wrong to steal and yadda yadda. He already felt bad enough that his last resort was to steal anything.

Tails ears drooped and he whined out to his blue friend, "Sooniccc.."

"Yeah, yeah. I know it's bad, Tails. You told me like, what, 24 times already! And yes, I counted." He glanced back at the disappointed fox with a finger raised, his brother's disapproving gaze made him want to disappear. He turned around to face him completely with a sad glint hidden deep in his eyes. "Tails, you know what happened last time you went out to get food. Aslo, I saw your face when you were talking to some guy before that, _magical_ beans, yeah right!" He air quoted the word 'magical', he really shouldn't have been talking though, seeing as he had wings and was practically a part of those kinds of things. He walked over to the cub and sat beside him, wrapping his arm around him and his face softened into something more thoughtful. "I'm just doing what I can for us, I didn't say I liked it."

The kid glanced up at him. "I wasn't implying that you did, but.. is it really the _best_ we could do?"

Sonic looked down, his ears lowered slightly. "It's certainly not the best, but it's the _only_ thing we can do." He looked back up at his friend with a soft smile. "But hey, let's not get too thoughtful about it okay? You know how bad I am into getting deep into these things, and it's best that we don't, it'd just make the guilt worse."

Tails just nodded, smiling back at him and shifting to continue his book. Sonic got up and stretched out his legs as well as his wings, fluttering once he stopped to roll his head around his shoulders and walked towards the door. "Hey, I'm going out for a run alright, little buddy? You know how bored I can get when you're doing this kinda stuff. Gotta kill some time before going back to you know where." Tails waved him off and Sonic took it as a sign to get going. He winked and gave a thumbs up to his brother, "I'll be back sooner than you can say-"

"Yeah, yeah. Just get out." Tails chuckled as he could practically hear Sonic giving him the most sad expression he could muster up, complete with watery eyes.

"Hurtful.." He whined and immediately dashed out the front door, the wind that blew against his face had instantly slapped the mock sad face of his and replaced it with a smile, his eyes daring as he eyed the next tree to bounce off of.

 **xxx**

A certain black hedgehog had rubbed the top of his head, groaning as he had realized that the heap of ruined vines and branches were where his fruits and vegetables were supposed to be present at. He could always go to city and mooch some food off from Rouge's money but he'd feel bad about it even if she did offer before the last few times this happened. The bat had tons of money but enough trouble just maintaining the club from falling apart due to the constant fights that went on in it and despite keeping up her usual personality during and after her job, she already had these massive headaches from all the chatter that went on. She was a bat, after all, real sensitive ears right there. He'd always bring himself to feel guilty about it deep down even if Rouge had always forcefully dragged him along since he was as stubborn as a mule and always declined their offerings, it was also because he felt so helpless about it and he _hated_ that feeling. He sighed as he kneeled down in front of the scattered remains of his food, growling to himself.

" _Dammit._ "

He perked his ears up as he heard the sudden chirping of the birds above him. _Right, he lives near the damn forest. Source of all pests for crops, this is just brilliant Shadow. Just fucking brilliant._

"Oh, so it happened again, huh?", Shadow turned his head back to see a familiar white bat out of her usual outfit for work and into her one of her aristocrat dresses with knee high buckled boots. A hand holding up an umbrella with fancy patterns and an apple held out in another, her trademark smirk present.

"Rouge?"

"That's me." She winked at her best friend who had gotten up and walked over. "I see your crops have been ruined yet again, how many times has this happened this week? Three? I suspected it would happen again, looks like my bat senses were right." She casually threw the apple she had been holding over to her friend who caught it right on time.

Shadow stared down onto the apple and stayed silent., the bat lady had noticed and spoke up. "Why so quiet? Feeling bad that I have to save your behind every time this happens?"

Shadow snorted, "You don't _have_ to. I can handle these things on my own, _thank you very much_. You just love to pester me."

She rolled her eyes. "You're so stubborn about these sorts of things, a thank you would've been appreciated from not letting you starve while I continue living the high life. That pestering is just me wanting to be a friend to you."

"I said it once and I'll say it again. I don't recall ever knowing that you would love helping people right out of the blue unless you'll get something back out of it sooner or later."

Rouge just gave him a shrug, keeping the smirk on her face. "What can I say? I'm a lady that likes getting stuff." She twirled with her short hair and eyed the ebony hedgehog. "How long have you been standing here anyway? It's the afternoon already."

"Since the morning of course."

Rouge brought her hand to her face. "You've just been standing out here all day? What do you even manage to do with all that time Shadow?" She brought her hand down and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him away from his house. "You better eat that apple because thats your breakfast, we better go back to the city and fill that stomach up before it implodes inside of you." Rouge knew that that wasn't true, he could go for days without eating in fact, all perks about being an illegal experiment made by grand papa Gerald. Truthfully, she would rather treat him like a person and push him to do all these things, it'd just make them both feel better in a way.

Shadow just let himself be dragged off into the city, his eyes had dulled with boredom and his ears were being drowned out with the ramblings coming out of the young woman's mouth.

 **xxx**

A bat and hedgehog sat outside under an umbrella, food brought to them by a golden cat waitress who had set their goods onto the table. Smiling at the two before walking back into the inside of the restaurant. Shadow's steam powered boots had tapped onto the cold floor, his head held up by his hand and his other hand shoving a spoon full of creamed corn into his mouth. Rouge had already ate some salad and was glupping down some fine wine, the glass being twirled around her fingers as she watched Shadow eat. The hedgehog felt her gaze on him the whole time, it genuinely creeped him out. He dropped the spoon onto his plate, giving the snowy bat an annoyed expression.

"Mind telling me what's so fascinating about me eating?"

"Mind telling me what's been wrong with you lately?"

Shadow's eyes flashed for a split second. "..I don't know what you're talking about."

"You paused for a second there."

Shadow turned away, crossing his arms. Rouge had placed her hand on his shoulder, raising her brow.

"Now listen, you moody hedgehog. I know it's not my place to-"

"Then don't."

Rouge took a deep breath before continuing. "You've been more distant than usual. Something going on with that head of yours and all I've managed to get outta you is some childish fairy tale, which I know Maria had taken part in. I know she's always in your mind somewhere, but this is just unhealthy."

"Who are you to tell me what is healthy for me and what is not?"

Rouge set down her wine glass and rubbed soothing circles over her temples, "Shadow, hun. I know I'm not the best person to talk to this about, but you literally talk to no one besides me and, as much as I hate to admit it, I feel like I should considering I do care for you. I should at least try and be more of a friend to you by doing this."

Shadow sighed and took what she said into consideration. Rouge was the only person he would talk to and legitimately consider a friend, or at least close to it, no matter how much she tried to pester him. He'd been alone ever since Maria had left and was used to keeping to himself, until that one faithful night going into her club and attempting to drink but utterly failed, that's when Rouge had come along and got him talking. Rouge knew that he was not a real person, or rather born as one. Rouge knew that Maria meant a lot to him and knew how Shadow worked, hell she even knew more things were on his mind even if he was practically unreadable to most. Shadow hated that. He'd noticed that Rouge had been patietnly waiting for a response and even took a sip out of the wine glass she started to twirl between her fingers once more.

"..To tell you the truth, I'm not sure either."

Rouge seemed to have been studying him, possibly trying to see if he was lying to her or not. Surely enough, she found nothing and set herself back down to her seat.

"If that's the case, then.. just when you figure out what you're dealing me, talk to me, alright?" Shadow just nodded, and got a warm smile from his friend but it disappeared as she whipped out a book and slid it over to Shadow. Shadow was confused as the book hit the edge of his plate and also made it fall off, he glared softly at the bat before holding it between his hands.

"Mind telling me what this is?"

"I literally just explained it. All you have in your head now is Maria and some kids tales. Thought I'd get you something to start off with, the librarian near the club looked at me like I was crazy for getting it. I ignored them of course."

Shadow felt himself chuckle a bit at the librarian part, Rouge genuinely looked bored of the conversation now and continued to look away, slurping his wine once more.

"Now, eat. Can't keep that handsome face for long without some food in your system." Rouge spotted a small smile come her way from her friend, and smirked to herself.

 **xxx**

Shadow had bidded Rouge farewell before he walked back off into the direction of his house, it wasn't long until he was back outside his house and observing his crops again. He shuffled around the dead leaves and vines and wondered if he had somehow missed something. He had traps for pests and they had all worked efficiently until just recently, what was going on?

His mind suddenly wandered back into the path of his memory.

 _'The Feathered'_

Shadow's ear perked up at the sound of a sudden cooing sound coming up from the trees in the forest, he looked up and swore he saw a bird with the snowiest layer of feathers ever. The bird had cooed once again and fluffed it's wings, both of their eyes were locked. The bird had blinked and titled their head at the hedgehog before flying over and around him. Shadow was surprised at the bird's behavior and was thoroughly confused, he felt the bird peck and tug at his fine collared gloves. He took his arm away from the bird and then they started to tug at their collar.

"What are you.." Shadow asked the beautiful yet increasingly annoying white dove in a quiet voice. The dove had fled over to the edge of the forest and cooed back at the puzzled hedgehog as they stood upon a snapped off vine that most likely came from his food garden. He raised his eye ridge as he walked over and held the piece between his fingers and examined it closely.

"Did this come from my-" He looked back up and saw the trail of dirt and pieces of ripped up skins of food, the bird who started to fly around him again before diving in through his window. Shadow felt himself shout out as they flew out and into the forest with the small journal in their feet. He dashed right after them without a second thought, cursing under his breath as he almost crashed into a tree on the way.

"Mother of- Get back here!" He leaped over the knee-deep waters of the lake with the help of some small rocks sticking out of them in a randomized order. He couldn't bear to get himself soaked, his fur took too long to dry off completely, same would go towards his vest and strapped on boots. His foot had slipped its edge into the turf of the water as he prepared a big leap towards land again, sure enough he had got across, but not without wetting the heels of his shoes a tiny bit. The bird was watching from a thin branch, waiting before they set flight again. Shadow groaned and kept himself going after it before the dove had landed in a clearing. Shadow had launched himself towards the bird who flew away just in time before they would get crushed under Shadow's weight. The hedgehog could hear the screams of victory set off inside his mind as he stared towards the white avian with deadly crimson eyes.

"You little- hey!", Shadow had hoped to at least release some of the wrath of their rather splendid use of curses onto the annoying creature but couldn't as he was faced with a torn up mansion. The bird had set themselves on a small fountain that seemed to have had some rainwater leftover from last week's out of the blue rainstorm, which had surprised a lot of people including him. He had to wait around 3 days before his fur returned to it's natural shining look. He stood up with the journal in his hand, walking over and placing himself right besides the fountain. He shot a glare to the bird who started to peck at their wings continuously.

" _This conversation is not over._ " he said slowly, his voice threatening, the dove ignored them again, no surprise there.

He took a few steps forward, hesitating slightly. He observed the perimeter, the surroundings being covered by nature obviously since they were deep inside the woods. He cocked his ears around, searching for anything, or perhaps anyone who could be lurking around here, watching him. He tensed up at the thought, if there was one thing in the world you should definitely not do, it was spy on Shadow. He would not appreciate it and would show it in a way where you'd be screaming for your mother. Nothing. He had heard absolutely nothing besides the chirping and tweeting erupting from the trees around them.

Looks like no one will die today.

He laid his hand on his hip, a quiet hum buzzed behind his closed lips. The house was completely taken over by nature. Vines and plants looked etched onto them, trailing into windows and the surface with some pretty flowers sprouting up in some areas. Looking above all of that, thick branches found their way up and broke through the windows, also covered in vines. He peered inside the windows, it was dark, the only light was from this solo window he peeped out of which wasn't covered up like the others. He stared harder through the lightly worn glass, placing his hands onto it and squinting his eyes. Though he knew leaning onto the glass certainly wasn't going to help, he felt it was still necessary, in some way. I don't know you should ask him about it.

Squinting certain seem to do him some good since he thought he saw a bookshelf, wait.. two bookshelves. No, no. Was this a whole library? What's a whole library doing out here in the middle of the woods? Is someone here or is this place really abandoned?- His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a big splash behind him, he snapped his head back to see the bird flapping their wings and playing around in the fountain. Shadow's face scrunched up in a tight glower aimed towards the bird, before scoffing and looking back inside with unimpressed eyes. Soon enough, his eyes began to grow weary and he rubbed at them. He was curious about what kinds of books they had left over and if any would be about fairy tales. He started to consider actually going in and- no.

Shadow tore himself always from the glass in an over dramatic form. The bird tilted their head and cooed slightly.

Shadow, no. You can't just go running around in places that aren't known to you. Your hidden curious nature is showing. Stop it now before it's too late.

..He was wondering if exploring this new found discovery he had made would really be a good idea. He was sure he could take on whatever was in store for him around this unknown place, seeing as he was not your average mobian, but would still prefer not to. He was a pretty good boy until messed with, you know.

He walked around the building some more before coming across a door, he reluctantly reached out to turn the knob. His ear twitched as a slight squeal emerged from the door's hinges, it expected it to be loud enough to scare all the crows in the area and fly up into the air as a group, screaming and all to add to dramatic effect. He was pleased that it didn't happen anyway. He looked in through the small opening before opening it completely. It was dark, but lighter now since he had opened the door. He was right, there were bookshelves practically invading the place with books stacked as their supposed commanders on deck. He sighed to himself as he used his hand to pinch the skin between his eyes.

He was sure he was going to regret this later on.

* * *

Up the stairs was a two tailed cub humming to themselves as they seemed to be drawing out a planning sheet of some sort onto the chalkboard and holding out a hardcover jet engine study in the other. His ear twitched as he heard the door shut in the bottom floor. Sonic was back already? He usually wasn't back until sundown and it was barely starting to set. He walked over to the edge and peered over from the top of the indoor balcony, a smile spread onto his face as he was about to welcome his friend back but stopped abruptly. Sonic didn't look like himself, his fur was darker and he wore a deep red vest with dark strapped on boots. He had red stripes on his upturned quills and his wings weren't there and he looked like he was reading a book- _Oh my god that is not Sonic._

He almost threw himself to hide behind a small bookcase. He felt his heart jump into his throat, all he could hear was his heart threatening to explode and his mind was screaming internally. Who was that guy and what is he doing here?! Why didn't the birds set off the alarm when they saw him?! What does he want?! Is he going to hurt me?! This hasn't happened before. He was always lucky when it came to people not finding their lonely houses, but looks like that luck had run out. Tails wasn't sure what to do in situations like this and Sonic still wasn't back to help him figure this out! Tails' instant instinct was to just curl up and die right there in his spot. He looked over by the edge of the bookcase and was thankful the guy wasn't staring up at him by now. He still seemed to be reading something.. Tails knew this guy was definitely not Sonic by now. Sure, the guy was a hedgehog and with darker colors but what really set the alarms off for him was the fact that he had no wings and was reading a book. Sonic never sets his hand on one of those things, let alone bat an eye at them. He always had his mind set out on actual adventuring and exercising instead of relying on stories to entertain him like Tails did.

Tails flinched when the hedgehog had turned around, but they were still focused on their story. Tails still couldn't make out their face in the darkness but he could see the rest of him. He seemed to have had some chest fur sticking out that he was smoothing out, which Tails found a bit funny since he knew the feeling but still didn't improve his whole attitude on the situation. The guy certainly had an appearance that shouted out 'Back off' to anyone who laid eyes on him, his quills seemed to polish that assumption as they looked more aggressive than most hedgehogs he's ever seen, including Sonic's. Although he might've looked part, he certainly didn't act like it. He held the books with care as his eyes scanned through it. His posture wasn't crooked, but lean and sturdy like he had some muscle on him. Tails found themselves wondering if they would really consider hurting him seeing as how he wasn't really posing himself as a threat to anyone here, probably because he thought no one else was here with him but that's besides the point. He didn't look mean at the moment, just content and focused. Tails crawled over to their desk, equipping a handmade gun he had made recently. He hasn't tested it out yet but if worse came to worse, he'd use the guy on the bottom of the stairs as practice. He decided to be a brave boy like his friend and take matters into his own hands, also if Sonic came bursting in to find that guy whilst he was actually not wanting to cause trouble he'd pounce onto him faster than you can say uh oh bananas.

Tails cautiously and slowly stepped down from the base, his gun being held behind in the back of his belt and still somewhat in his grip at the same time. The hedgehog didn't seem to notice that either, he internally let out a deep sigh of relief. Reaching the base of the stairs, a loud creak finally emitted itself from the aged floor. The fox kid's eyes widened as the hedgehog's head finally turned to face them. They could see their eyes more clearly now, shining ruby reds, staring back at him with surprise etched into them. The urge to curl up and die was running back into him as the hedgehog stepped over to him. Oh where could Sonic be?

* * *

 **A/N: oops, cliffhanger. Haha fuck my life**

 **Favorites and follows are great, but reviews help me improve and let me know that people want more, so do that if you want these to come out faster m'kay? By e**

 **Story last updated: July 23, 2015**


	4. An Interesting Encounter

**A/N: so long since an update aiyyyyeeee**

 **but im back**

 **but my proofreading isnt here to make the A/N's for me anymore as he's retired so I have my bff doing it for me now ( luv ya maxie )**

 **truth be told im not that into sonadow anymore ( more into some.. other ships you see eue ) but I literally promised myself that I would finish this so i will? it'll just take a long time**

 **P.S. has anyone else noticed that the intials of this story literally spell out SWaGS ? cool right i didnt even notice until now**

 **plus i still like this story idea so lets do this**

* * *

 **Chapter 3:** **An Interesting Encounter**

"Uhm," The cub somehow managed to keep a sturdy voice despite their body's obvious quivering. "Hello!" Brilliant Tails, you've made yourself the target.

The fox clenched the handgun tightly as the hedgehog didn't bother to respond right that instant, Tails stared up onto this mysterious man towering above him, his gleaming rubies seemed more focused on observing the whole room then to pay attention to him. Well, at least he didn't look armed in anyway, the fox let out an internal gasp of relief but struggled to catch back that breath as the hedgehog faced them. An odd chill ran down their back as they heard their deep voice.

"I had a feeling I wasn't going to be alone in here," the male had placed a hand onto his hip and backed away from the kid, walking around the place some more before continuing to talk. "Is there anyone else in here with you?"

"Er, n-no." Tails wanted to slap himself in the face for sounding so meek. Man up, dammit. "It's just me."

"I see." The hedgehog started walking back over to him, Tails' hands felt clammy as they held onto their gun but stood paralyzed as he stared right into his red orbs. He.. walked right past him? And.. up the stairs.. oh no.

Tails' turned heel and run up the stairs after him, he'll be damned if he was going to let this guy disturb his setup. Soon, he was right in front of the man, preventing him from reaching the few final steps up to the balcony.

"Wait! You can't go up there?"

The ebony stranger cocked an eyebrow at the young fox. "Might I ask why?"

"I-It's.. uhm, dirty up in there! And it stinks a lot! Like bird poop! I was just in the middle of cleaning it until I heard you come in!"

The hedgehog had his brow up still. "Bird poop? But, this is an indoor balcony, how could you have bird poop in there?"

"Eh, didn't you see all the birds in the trees around us? We have an infestation problem here if you know what I mean." Tails' tried his best to sound casual as possible, but the hedgehog had been staring right at him.

"Hm." The man had scrunched up his nose slightly before turning away to walk back down the stairs.

"Whew!" Tails smiled a bit before following suit. So far so good, maybe if he could somehow managed to get him out of here in this way, he won't end up as fox stew! And hopefully before Sonic came home, if he turned out to be a good guy then he wouldn't want Sonic getting all up in his business.

"What's a kid like you doing way out here?" Tails' ears twitched a bit and looked up at the strange man.

"What's a guy like you doing way out here?"

The man paused for a second to think, "It started out as a bird took something very valuable from me, flew away and lead me here. Then I found this place and got curious."

"Oh." The silence rang deadly in the room, Tails understood why he had come but still wasn't sure what the man's motive might have been. The stranger brushed past the young fox again to go towards another section of books, this time not minding his two tails. Tails was reminded of a little something.

"Hey.." He spoke up. The ebony male turned to face him. "Aren't you in the least bit freaked out about my.." He trailed off as the stranger looked through him, those eyes were practically weapons, Tails thought, but still tried to finish the sentence as the young adult looked slightly puzzled.

"Aren't you going to comment on my mutation?"

"Mutation?"

"Er, my tails?"

The man kept his arms crossed and continued to look down towards the kid, this certainly wasn't helping Tails feel any more safer.

"Now, answer me this: Why would I do that?"

Tails was confused. Literally everyone, _everyone_ , had commented on them. About how much of a poor, disgraceful sap he must've been. A freak show! Someone who must've been disowned by their own family. Someone who would never find love or, dare they say it, have a family. Sonic was the only exception, Sonic liked his tails. Sonic was practically his guardian angel ( pun intended ). He had saved him from all the endless taunts thrown his way, he had raised him when his mother died, he had always been the one to go to because he had no one else. And now this man, this _normal_ man, is here, telling him why should he ever poke fun at him?

"W-Well, why not?"

"Have you been teased about it before?"

"Er, yes.. sir."

The man had an irritated look on his face suddenly, then had his hand clasped around his face, sighing deeply as he spoke up again. "Over how you were born, that's disgraceful." He removed his hand from his face and pinned his hands to his sides, looking down at the boy once more.

"I don't know about those pests you had to deal with, but don't worry, I was raised differently. I believe everyone is equal, no matter what." He then walked off into the section of book shelves he had wanted to go to. Tails was still stunned at what the man had said.

Could this man _truly_ not want to hurt him? In _any_ way? None at all? This man is strange, very strange.. Tails liked strange, probably because he was too. Until another thought came into his mind..

 _Oh no_ , if he were to tell the officials about Tails staying here, he'd be forced to go into an orphanage. Sonic would have a hard time trying to be with him. Everything would fall apart. If this man walked out of here with that knowledge, knowledge that _a child_ was alone in the woods, their life would surely crumble.

"You seem distressed."

Tails snapped out of his thoughts, and looked back towards the man. A thoughtful look graced onto his ruby reds. Tails began stammering and trying to think of what to reply back with until he was cut off with another sentence from the mysterious guy.

"Are you worried about your guardian?" He looked back down towards the man, only to see him reading again. A folklore book? Isn't he a tad bit old for that kind of stuff? But never mind that, Tails thought about what he had spoken of.

Guardian. Right, I had a _guardian_. If he were to believe that then he wouldn't have to be told on!

"Er, yes. Actually, I don't think they'd take kindly to you being here." He spoke out in a slightly nervous tone, hoping that would be enough to scare the guy off. He really didn't want Sonic to come home right about now.

"I see." The man's eyes were scanning over another book before closing it and putting it back into the shelves. "You have a rather fine collection of folklore books here. Do you have a fascination for them as well?"

Tails flushed slightly, well, maybe there _were_ some parts of him that bonded closely to his childish heart. "I.. do. My mother always told me about them."

Tails saw a small smile creep onto the man's face, almost gentle.. "I could say the same thing, except it was my sister. She had a fascination for these things more than I did."

Tails felt something inside him shift, it was like he was slowly starting to feel comfortable talking to him, especially about folklore. His ears perked up at the mentioning of his sister. "Sister? Where is she?" His tails wagged slightly.

The man's eyes faltered then faded, he turned his head towards the window and took a moment to breathe. "She's.. gone."

Oh no. Tails suddenly felt like a complete idiot. He didn't know that his sister was dead! How was he supposed to know! But still, it didn't shake off the feeling of guilt he had towards this man. He was beginning to feel like there was more to this man then meets the eye..

"Well, I'll leave you be. Maybe I'll come back here again, I have more books I'd like to read." With that, the ebony hedgehog turned swiftly towards the door. Before Tails could protest, he was already out the door. Tails ran over to the door and saw no trace of him, it was like he was some sort of phantom.. No, Tails don't be silly! Phantoms don't exist! .. But then again, Sonic existed. Huh..

Tails closed the door shut, and sighed deeply. Well, that was.. an interesting encounter. What a strange man. He turned and-

"Hiya Tails!"

An ear deafening screech rang throughout the woods, causing many birds to flee in terror.

"You didn't have to blow my ears out, ya know!" Sonic rubbed at his poor little ears as Tails cleaned up the balcony, chalk and dust were everywhere. Tails glared at his silvery winged friend.

"You scared me!"

"I'm the only one who ever comes here!" Sonic spat back. "You acted as if you saw a ghost or something! How couldn't you not expect me?"

Tails stared at Sonic for a few moments, before going back to cleaning up. Sonic's ears perked up and his face was blanched as he noticed Tails' reaction to what he had just said.

"SOMEONE WAS HERE?!"

"No!" Tails exclaimed. "I was just.. I heard something out there, I was sure it wasn't the birds that did it. I got frightened.." Dammit Tails! Why did you lie to him? He's your big brother! He deserves to know what happened! But that guy did nothing wrong! He didn't hurt him or anything! He was just a bit strange thats all! And interesting.. same thing. He wasn't going to let Sonic come after some poor guy when all he did so far in crime was read a couple things.

Sonic had a suspicious glint in his emerald eyes, he scanned Tails with his ( 50% accurate ) big brother vision. He sighed though, either Tails was telling the truth or he had put up a lot of guard to make his BBV powers ineffective.

"Tails," Sonic started. "You know you can tell me anything right."

".. Yeah."

"And you know that we _always_ tell each other _everything_ right?"

"I know that."

"So what did happen?" He stared into his fox friend's blue eyes. Tails looked a bit annoyed now.

"I told you what happened already." He turned away and dumped some pieces of wood into the trash bin. Sonic still following behind him.

"But you never told me what it was."

"I don't know what it was. Heck, who knows, maybe it was a ghost. At least, that's what I was thinking at the time. You know how I can be about paranormal and folklore things."

Sonic seemed very unsure that Tails was actually telling him 100% the truth, but took it anyways, the kid _was_ too into legends and stuff.

He sighed again. "Alright then." He threw himself onto Tails' mattress and looked up into the ceiling, there was a window that had shown the night sky clearly above them. Tails liked it that way, he could see the stars and watch Sonic fly back to his home as well as wake up and see him flying down towards him. This had been their home for a good while, he'd like it to stay that way. And the only way that could happen is that no one gets near this area, or comes looking for him and/or Tails. They would be separated, for good this time.

Sonic had to live two separate lives, a prince in a forgotten clan of Sky Mobians, and the other one was a big brother just doing his best to protect and raise his little brother. He much preferred being down here with Tails, rather than be cooped up in the high heavens. The whole clan was bounded to their land and the land below their land, in order to prevent contact with the other world. After the war, his species was lead to believe that all Land Mobians were scumbags. Sonic never believed in them, it was just more meaningless folklore, and soon found Tails who had confirmed his own beliefs. He was just a little boy who had life hit him hard too soon. He sighed as he thought more about home, was it even home?

Home was supposed to be a place where you could feel loved, and free. He only got love, no freedom was ever considered however. Every day, he has to at least spend half a day in his kingdom, above the clouds. He was free to move around in his land above land, but never allowed to go below. No one ever was. Everyone was forced to live above the Land, they could hardly ever go out to scavenge some food anymore. So many people had fallen victim to their stealing gimmicks as there was no soil in the clouds, many of their people have been lost. Though thankfully, never caught.

Sonic sighed, and his wings relaxed. What sort of life was that?

To be a prince of people who were too scared of their own shadows?

To be a prince of people who were trapped in a ring of fire, just like him?

Was that any way to live?

He would rather be a Land Mobian than a Sky Mobian, at least then he would be granted the freedom. He'd happily trade his wings for freedom. Mhm, most definitely. His wings are pests anyways, always getting dirty as they looked as pure as snow, yet shining as silver. He preferred running.

Sonic's ear twitched as he heard Tails yawn, he looked up to see his two tailed friend rubbing at his eyes. He smiled and got off the bed, getting ready to tuck him in.

"You were thinking about it again weren't you?"

".. It's okay bud."

"You really just want to get rid of those wings don't you?"

Sonic smile faltered, but stayed. "The wings by themselves are the bonds to my kingdom, I like my kingdom but wish didn't have to be this way." He wasn't answering the question, but Tails already knew what he was going to say anyways. The wings were in fact the reason why he couldn't go anywhere too far, the reason why his adventurous needs were never fulfilled.

"You never liked having those wings either way didn't you?"

"Heh, no. You know how much they wear me down when I'm running."

Tails yawned again, his eyes half opened and a lazy smile spread over his face. "Yep."

Sonic brushed his little brother's bangs out of his face. "Good night bud." He propped himself up onto the ledge of the far windows he had walked towards and was about to jump until Tails spoke up again.

"Sonic."

Sonic looked back, "Yeah, Tails?"

"You better bring me some more apple juice tomorrow." Tails giggled as Sonic looked offended by what he just said.

"Here I am, thinking you were going to say something touching and you command me to get you some apple juice!" Sonic exclaimed and huffed out in a small burst of laughter. " _The nerve of you._ "

With that, he jumped out the window and flew up into the heavens. Tails looked up at the ceiling window to watch him fly off. He was gone now. Tails usually felt more scared when he was finally left alone, but today was a good day. He curled up in his blankets and stared out the window besides him, his eyes set onto the pearly white glare of the moon, the strange man he had met earlier today was the last thing on his mind before he had been lulled into a deep slumber.

* * *

 **A/N: hope that was good enough for the long ( 7 month ) wait. anyways it's like 3 AM here and im beat so byeeee i'll try to update soon but no promises**

 **Story Last Updated: March 4, 2016**


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